Toxicology results have confirmed that the eagle was poisoned. The post-mortem also showed that the bird was days away from laying two eggs.
The bird was released in Killarney National Park in 2009 as part of a reintroduction programme managed by the Golden Eagle Trust in partnership with the NPWS. She settled in the Roundstone area of Connemara in 2012 and paired up with a male, but did not produce any chicks. It takes five years for the bird to reach maturity and begin breeding.
This is the 13th confirmed poisoning of a white-tailed eagle in Ireland since the reintroduction project began in 2007. Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Heather Humphreys said the loss of the white-tail eagle is a serious incident and has put an end to the breeding of the species in west Galway.
I would remind the public that using poison to kill foxes etc is illegal - and it's having serious consequences pic.twitter.com/P44rN2xBnG
— Heather Humphreys (@HHumphreysFG) April 17, 2015
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